


Goes Blank

by raininshadows



Category: Hive Mind Series - Janet Edwards
Genre: Gen, Memory Loss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-07-24
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:14:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25490701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raininshadows/pseuds/raininshadows
Summary: Olivia wakes up in a hospital, and she doesn't know why.
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8
Collections: Every Woman 2020





	Goes Blank

**Author's Note:**

  * For [burglebezzlement](https://archiveofourown.org/users/burglebezzlement/gifts).



I woke up in a medical sleep field. "Hello," someone said warmly. He was dressed like a nurse, and it seemed that he'd been sitting next to my sleep field, waiting for me to wake up. "How are you feeling?" 

It took me a few minutes to get my thoughts organized enough that I could answer him. "Um, nothing hurts, but... my body feels really weird. Like it changed while I was out. What happened?" The last thing I remembered was sitting in my room on Teen Level. It was as if I'd been hit in the head and lost all memory of whatever had brought me to this moment. 

"Tell me about yourself. What do you remember?" he asked, instead of answering me. 

I took a deep breath. "My name is Olivia. My ID code is 2506-0193-824. I'm from Green Zone, my parents are Level 78, I'm going into the next Lottery cycle." The nurse nodded, seeming pleased by this for some reason. 

"Okay," he said. "Olivia, you're not eighteen any more. You're twenty-six. You went through Lottery on schedule, but... something went wrong, and you had to be rewound eight years. That's what feels so strange." 

I froze. I'd heard of people being rewound a few months, even up to a year in the very worst cases, but what could possibly have led to me having to be rewound _eight years_? Had I murdered someone? "What _happened_?" I repeated, more insistently. "Did I do something wrong after Lottery?"

"No, no," the nurse said reassuringly. "You were assigned to a very important job, Olivia. There was an accident that hurt your mind, and you couldn't do your job any more, so for your safety and the Hive's safety we had to reset you. But you didn't do anything wrong. My name is Evan. I worked with you before, so I've been assigned to help you now." 

I blinked in surprise. What kind of very important job had I wound up with? I wasn't exactly the science-minded type, nor could I picture myself working for the military. But Evan was continuing. "If you're all right with it, once the doctor has confirmed that you've recovered from the rewinding, I'd like to put you through Lottery again. It shouldn't take longer than a day or two, since we won't need to wait for staff or rooms. I'm trained to handle a lot of it." 

"That sounds okay," I said, "but can I talk to my family first?" 

Evan winced. "I... yes," he said finally, "but they may not want to talk to you. There was some trouble between you and your family after you came out of Lottery the first time. We told them that you were being reset, but I don't know if they want to speak to you even now." 

I didn't believe my family would really reject me. No matter how high-level my mysterious "very important job" had been, they'd still love me. "I'd like to try anyway, thank you," I said with a firmness that surprised even me. Where had I learned to talk to medical professionals like that? But Evan just handed me a dataview - one of the very high-end models, with a pastel blue case that I loved but had never seen in stores - and smiled. "Would you like me to leave? I'll be waiting outside, you can come get me when you're done talking to your family." 

"Yes, please," I said. As he left, a thought flashed through my head. _Please, let this work out. We can't lose her again. We can't lose any more telepaths._

As the door closed behind him, I tried to think through what had just happened. Evan hadn't spoken, I was sure of it, but the voice had clearly been his, not mine. Had I somehow seen into his mind? Only nosies did that, I was fairly sure. And had he called me a telepath? 

Maybe I was just hearing things that weren't there. That had happened to me a few times on Teen Level. The doctors had been worried, but after I'd had no other problems, they'd told me that it could be ignored. 

Pushing it out of my mind for now, I began a text message to my father. _Hi, Dad. This is Olivia. Can I talk to you?_

His reply came quickly. _At work. Later?_

I sent back _That's fine. Thanks._ then walked over to the door. My legs were stiff - how long had I been out? As promised, Evan was waiting outside. 

"Did everything go well, Olivia?" he asked brightly. 

I shrugged. "Dad's at work right now and can't talk. We're going to try a video call later." He nodded, not asking about my mother. Perhaps he already knew she was dead, if he'd worked with me before my reset. Suddenly a thought sprang into my head. "How's my sister doing?" Sarah had been four years younger than me, so she would have gone through Lottery four years ago. And I remembered none of it. 

"She's a Level 42 nocturnal animal specialist," Evan said. "Can we do some brain scans on you now? It won't take long, and it won't hurt." _The anticipation's awful. Is she a telepath or isn't she?_

More hearing things. And this was the second time they'd mentioned telepathy. "Sure," I said, and Evan was immediately on me, hooking up metallic circles to my head.

"Hold still for a moment," he instructed, then walked over to some displays on a different wall. 

While Evan didn't show any external reaction to whatever scans he was looking at, the triumphant _Yes!_ was almost deafening inside my head. _That's telepath brainwave patterns! We still have to wait for her Lottery results, but we might have preserved her abilities._

"So... what was my job, earlier?" I asked, trying to be calm about it. Had they made me work as a nosy? 

"You were working in Hive Security," he told me brightly. "The cover story was that you were a Level 1 scientist, but that was just a cover story." Hive Security, and a telepath. I'd been a nosy. I'd lied to my family to hide that I was a nosy. 

_Maybe she'll be a true telepath. Maybe this time she'll be able to clear the echoes._ A vision of myself flashed into my mind - older than I remembered looking, but still clearly my body. But I spoke with someone else's voice, and said someone else's words. What kind of accident had resulted in that? _Or maybe she'll just be a borderline, and she can be a therapist or whatever._

"So, when you're feeling ready, we can put you into Lottery testing. The first round will be fast, don't worry." Evan seemed quite happy. When I focused, I could almost hear his internal monologue, at least in general tones. 

"Yes," I said, "let's get started." 

"Great! This way, then." He led me out of the room and down the hall, into a room set up with some odd equipment I hadn't seen before. "Sit down there and we'll get started." 

_I hope she's a true telepath,_ Evan thought enthusiastically. 

I remembered the vision I'd seen of myself, reciting someone else's words like a puppet, and hoped I wouldn't be.


End file.
